TRUMPELDOR, AN ISRAELI HERO REVISITED: RUTHIE BLUM
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=8279
As Israelis spend the 24 hours leading up to Independence Day mourning each of the 23,169 victims of war and terrorism, a shared pall envelops the country. It is both bitter and sweet. For the loved ones of the fallen, it is just another day of pain they have to overcome — albeit one with pomp, circumstance and public figures paying tribute to their sons, daughters, husbands, wives, mothers and fathers.
For the very few who do not have some personal connection to the casualties of the Arab assault on the Jewish state, it serves as an admonition that any one of us could become members of the unwitting “club” of the bereaved. It is also a reminder of the price we are forced to pay for the privilege of being a beacon of freedom, democracy and modernity in a neighborhood that remains in willful darkness.
It is thus that we willingly forgo frequenting our trendy cafes and entertainment venues — as well as forfeit watching regular programming on our wealth of satellite and cable TV channels — to express our deep gratitude to all those who died defending our right and ability to enjoy such frivolities.
But popular culture is not the only, or even the main, realm of success for which we owe our thanks to those who are no longer with us and to their families.
Without them, could we have become and sustained the “start-up nation”? Would we have had the luxury to innovate, invent, inspire and create? Could we have had the energy to come to the aid of other peoples afflicted with famine and natural disasters?
Could we have had the wherewithal to do the above, while dealing with the usual domestic issues of housing, healthcare, education, employment, transportation, welfare and immigration? Would we have had the faith to strive for social justice at home and seek partners for peace abroad?
The answer is a resounding no.
Nor are the heroes who fell during the 66 years since Israel was declared a state the only ones deserving of our appreciation today, especially in the current global climate. The resurgence of old-style anti-Semitism, in its new, more politically and socially acceptable incarnation as “anti-Israelism,” has brought many long-gone heroes to mind.
Joseph Trumpeldor is of particular note in this context.
Trumpeldor, born in 1880, was a Russian Jew, an ardent socialist and early Zionist, who lost his arm in the siege of Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese War.
Trumpeldor would eventually move to Palestine and become a leader of the Jewish Legion, the precursor to the Israel Defense Forces.
On March 1, 1920, hundreds of Arabs attacked the Upper Galilee settlement of Tel Hai. Trumpeldor was shot and seriously wounded in the bloody battle that ensued. By the time a doctor arrived, it was too late to save him. The dying Trumpeldor is purported to have comforted him and the comrades who were with him by saying, “Ein davar, tov lamut be’ad artzeinu” (“Never mind, it is good to die for our country”).
This line, above all else, came to symbolize Trumpeldor’s legacy in the Israeli psyche.
Though he was hailed as a national hero by all sides of the political spectrum prior to and following the establishment of the state, there have been recent attempts on the part of the post-Zionist Left to manipulate this legacy for political purposes.
One method employed to rewrite Trumpeldor’s history has been to claim that his last words were not in Hebrew, but in his native Russian, and that what he actually said was “F— their mothers.”
It is possible, and even plausible, that Trumpeldor used his final breath to curse the enemy in his mother tongue. But doing so would not have made him any less of a hero. On the contrary, if anything, it would have provided further proof of his bravery — and perhaps sense of humor — up to the very last second of his life.
Far more disturbing is the way in which Trumpeldor has been exploited to tarnish Israeli society: to illustrate that Israelis imbibe his last words with their mothers’ milk, and therefore have no business accusing the Muslim-Arab world of espousing martyrdom.
The audacity of this analogy cannot be sufficiently underscored.
In the first place, it is a complete lie that Israeli children grow up believing it is good to die for any reason; they are taught that the survival of their collective is crucial and that each of their individual lives is precious.
Secondly, even Trumpeldor did not mean to promote death for the homeland. He was telling the people around him not to fret about the manner of his passing. He was reassuring them, and maybe himself, that he was accepting his death with valor.
On Monday evening, when the country transitions from grief to celebration, let us feel blessed by our heroes, past and present. As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said of them in Jerusalem on Sunday, “We would not be here if not for their sacrifice. We would not be here without their readiness to give their lives so we could be here.”
Indeed, it is good to live for our country.
Ruthie Blum is the author of “To Hell in a Handbasket: Carter, Obama, and the ‘Arab Spring.'”
Comments are closed.
